


A Night to Remember

by clavilon



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Prom, rain kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25934677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clavilon/pseuds/clavilon
Summary: It's senior prom night at Riverdale High, which is supposed to be the best night of their teenage lives. Yet, Betty Cooper only has one thought on her mind: what happened with Archie Andrews a couple of weeks prior. Will they act on the feelings that had resurfaced, or will it stay as a secret?
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper fanfictions





	A Night to Remember

With a baby blue dress and her hair down, Betty was almost ready for prom. It was a night she never thought would come, for various reasons. But it wasn't at all how she imagined it. Because, when she imagined it, she didn't think that she would have to carry so much guilt. And she only had to look up to the pictures she had on her mirror to see why she felt that way. Or she could look at the window from the house next door.

Memories of when she kissed Archie while rehearsing for the Variety Show came flooding in. Them in the bunker. The song he wrote for her. She couldn't even let him finish the song, it reminded her of the weekend of homecoming a long time ago. And she couldn't go through that again.

She looked through her window, to see if the redhead was there. But he wasn't. He probably was going to the dance with Veronica and were meeting them there. She remembered how, when they were in middle school, they would always go together since they lived next door to each other. The thought put a tiny smile on her face, thinking of how he would always step on her while they danced because of how clumsy he was. She was interrupted by someone knocking on her door, it was her mother.

"Betty, Jughead's already downstairs. He's waiting for you," she said.

"Right, sorry." She took a big breath. "I got distracted."

She put on her earrings and went downstairs, where her boyfriend was waiting. He had a big smile on his face, and he was tapping his right foot out of nervousness. He didn't really like those types of things, but he did it for Betty. Because he loved her. And she loved him, didn't she?

"You look beautiful," Jughead stated. He kissed her and whispered in her ear, "My Juliet."

That's what he called her the day they kissed for the very first time. But _Romeo and Juliet_ was not a romance, but a tragedy. And they both knew it. Was that how they saw their relationship?

"You look handsome too." She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "We're going to be late, we should go."

"Wait a minute! A picture!" They both posed for what was supposed to be one picture but turned out to be twenty. Until Alice was satisfied. "Okay, now you can leave. Have fun!"

And they left through the front door and got in the car that FP was driving. The car ride as quiet on Betty's behalf, Jughead couldn't stop talking about some murder documentary he watched on Netflix the previous night. He didn't notice Betty was looking through the window, only showing interest after a couple of sentences. Before they knew it, they arrived at Riverdale High School. And the first thing Betty saw was Archie, with Veronica on his arm.

Betty and Jughead went up the stairs and met with them. She took a few deep breaths before going towards them, she had to act normal around all of them. Especially Archie.

"Hey, guys!" Veronica hugged both of them enthusiastically. "Are you excited? This is _the_ night of our high school lives."

"Yeah, totally." Did that sound convincing at all? She looked at Archie, she didn't even know what to say to him.

"Hey, Betty. You look..." Archie glanced at Veronica before continuing the sentence he started. "You look nice."

"Thanks, Arch," she answered. "You look good too."

"Well, let's go!" Veronica practically pushed the rest of the friend group into the school. Then, the way to the gym, where the dance was being held.

— — —

An hour and a half passed and she started to feel more relaxed. She was with her friends, enjoying the dance. Drinking the punch that Reggie Mantle failed to spike. She did feel she was behaving a bit stiff towards Veronica, but she was mostly dancing with Archie, who she was trying to avoid so it worked out. They had been missing for a while, so when Veronica came alone she was surprised.

"Where were you?" Betty asked her. She tried to look around, to see if Archie was coming back.

"Oh, backstage. Archie is performing and I was just wishing him good luck," she explained.

She completely forgot about the performance. Cheryl went on the stage and announced Archie's name before he went up the stage, with his guitar. He hugged Cheryl before she left and then he placed himself into position.

"Hey, guys." Everyone in the gym cheered and clapped, including Veronica and Jughead. But not Betty. "So, this is a song I wrote a couple of weeks ago. I hope you guys like it."

"A new song? He hasn't shown me this one." Veronica seemed confused. But Betty understood why Archie didn't let her listen to the song the moment he played the first chords.

_There's no warning_

_When everything changes_

_You let down your guard and I saw something strange_

_I thought, she's not made for this world_

_And neither am I_

It was the song he sang for her in the bunker. The one she couldn't let him finish.

_Cause you make me wanna be stronger than I am_

_Maybe I'm reaching_

_Misplacing a feeling_

_There's no way to know but to try_

"There's no way to know but to try". But what would trying do to Jughead? To Veronica? And what if trying not only hurts them but herself too?

_So give me tonight_

_I don't know much_

_But I know this feels right_

_So give me tonight_

Did he mean prom? Was the song a message for Betty? And, what would Archie do if Betty gave him a chance that night? Will he tell her he loves her, or will he break her heart like the last time?

_If you carry the torch_

_I follow the light_

_I follow the light_

Everyone clapped as soon as Archie finished singing. But Betty was stunned. She didn't know what to do. Before she knew it, they already announced that they prom queens were Cheryl and Toni, and she didn't even hear it. The slow dance started and, after a while, people started to join the queens with their respective dates.

"Care to dance, m' lady?" Jughead asked, offering his hand.

"Y-yes. Of course." She doubted for a second, but she took Jughead's hand and they went to the dance floor.

They were dancing for a few minutes when Archie appeared out of nowhere. They locked eyes, unsure about what to do next. He walked towards Betty and Jughead.

"Hey, Jug. Can I steal your girl for a second?" He asked without even looking at him until he finished the question. He was looking at Betty the whole time.

"Um... Okay, I guess." Confused, Jughead stepped back and went where the food was being served.

Archie was going to put his hand on Betty's waist, but he was waiting for her to tell her it was okay. When she permitted him by nodding, he placed his hand and Betty placed hers on his shoulders. For a moment, they were back at homecoming, before everything between them went wrong.

"I'm having a strong sense of deja vu." Archie smiled, hoping Betty would do the same.

"Me too... Homecoming," Betty added.

"I was thinking more on the lines of when we were thirteen and I couldn't stop stepping on you." Betty couldn't stop a laugh from coming out. "Everything was much simpler back in the day, wasn't it?"

Yes, it was. Back when they would go to the movies with Jughead, or go to Pop's with Archie's dad. Back when all they could think about is the next time they were going to play together or if that night they were going to talk from window to window instead of sleep.

"What are you doing, Archie?" She finally asked.

"Look, Betty. I know you think that if we go through with this, with us, it will hurt everyone's feelings. But we can't make our life decisions based on what other people will think or feel." As he was looking at Betty, she realized that he was being serious.

"There are other things we have to consider," she added. It didn't matter what she felt or thought of the situation if it wasn't going anywhere.

"There's only one"

"And what's that?"

"What are _you_ feeling?" That question left Betty breathless. She didn't know.

What was she feeling? Was it confusion? Nostalgia? Love...?

"I love... Jughead," she answered him. That's the answer she had given him various times. The answer she had said to herself in the mirror almost every day since she left Archie in the bunker, alone with his guitar.

"Do you? Or are you trying to convince yourself?"

Betty slowly took her hands off of Archie's shoulders. What he just said made complete sense, but she couldn't let it be the truth. She couldn't.

"I have to go" Betty started to walk away, trying to hold tears in her eyes.

"Betty, wait-" she didn't let him finish the sentence. The sound of Archie's voice got drowned by the music and the people who were talking.

She crossed the gym and was alone in the hallway. The farther she walked, the quieter the sound got. But then she heard steps behind her. They weren't fast, more like when someone is looking around in a place. Thinking it was Archie, she turned around to tell him off only to find Jughead standing there.

"Hey," he softly said. "I saw you leave. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it." She smiled, hoping he wouldn't realize anything was wrong.

"Betty, that's the same answer you've given me every time I've asked you in the last couple of days." He took a couple of steps closer. "You seem weird."

She knew he would realize something was wrong. He was smart, after all. She was only hoping he wouldn't figure out what happened just like he did with the rest of the mysteries that were happening in the town.

"Has... something happened?" He finally asked.

Just as she opened her mouth, they both heard someone calling out Betty's name, followed by more steps. But this time it was like someone was running. Both Betty and Jughead looked to the end of the hallway, where Archie Andrews stopped when he saw they were together.

"Arch..." she let out in a quick breath, as their eyes found each other.

She turned her look back at Jughead. It was clear on his face that he was figuring everything out. Eyes looking directly to the ground as he tried to put all the pieces together. It was when he looked up, back at Betty, she knew he already had.

"Jug, I-" Betty tried to talk to him, but he was quickly gone.

Tears ran through her face, she couldn't hold it in any longer. He knew the song that Archie sang was about her. He knew that something made her upset when she danced with Archie. Jughead was already worried that Betty's feelings for Archie might've returned when they had to pretend to be together, and the fact that Archie showed up after him only confirmed it. After giving the redhead one last look, she ran away.

She left the building crying. It was pouring rain, but she didn't care. While she went down the stairs she could only think of Archie, of what happened. Of what happened when they were pretending. When they were rehearsing. In the bunker. The song. Their dance just a couple of minutes beforehand. If she acted on the feelings she was experiencing she could hurt so many people. She already hurt Jughead, and she was going to hurt Veronica as soon as she found out.

The front door of the school opened and Betty looked up to see Archie, standing there staring at her.

"Betty." He slowly started to walk down the stairs, as calm as he could. "Please, just listen to me. Then you can tell me to go away if you want to."

"Why, Arch?" she started. "What are you going to say? That we can do this? I've already hurt Jughead, and now Veronica-"

"I broke up with Veronica." His tone was higher so that Betty could hear him over her own voice and the rain. "Last week I broke up with her."

"But... Tonight..." She was shocked at what he said. If that was true, then why was she with him that night? Why was she dancing with him, and visiting him backstage?

"We came together as friends and because we didn't want to tell anyone about our breakup yet." He took a pause. "I told her everything. She was mad at first, but a couple of days later she called me telling me she understood. She said we've all changed and that she saw it coming since we were pretending. The only reason she didn't tell you she knew was because she didn't want you to feel like you were ambushed, especially tonight."

Unsure of how to react, she just stood there. How could Veronica know what they were feeling when Betty didn't know herself? It worried her thinking that it seemed obvious.

"I'm with Jughead." She noticed how that time she didn't say she loved him.

"And?" He took one step closer. They were still a couple of feet apart. "Where is he, Betty?"

He left. As soon as he figured out everything.

"I'm here," Archie continued.

He was. He always was there, ever since they were four. He was good, he always wanted what's best for her, he never hurt her and, if something happened to her, he was always there just in case she needed him. That's why she loved him all those years. That's why she still loved him. Now he was standing there, in the rain, and she looked at him as if it was the very first time she did.

"But... Veronica-"

"There's no Veronica!" He loudly exclaimed. "There's only you. And I won't make the same mistake twice. I love _you_ , Betty Cooper."

Betty had been waiting for Archie to say those words for a very long time. She loved him, she always had. And she never thought he would hear him speak those words. At that very moment, she forgot about everything. About Veronica. About Jughead. The only thought on her mind was Archie Andrews.

She started to run towards the redhead, and he did the same thing. They found each other and she placed her hand on the back of Archie's head at the same time he placed his at the back of Betty's neck, both pulling themselves together until their lips touched each other's in a passionate -yet gentle- kiss. It lasted for a while until they distanced themselves only a couple of inches from each other. They didn't care that the rain was pouring, or that they got wet and their clothes were ruined. They had each other. And that moment.

"I love you too, Archie Andrews." It was the first time Betty Cooper smiled sincerely that night. She played with Archie's hair, not caring it was wet.

Archie placed his hand on Betty's cheek and, with the other hand, placed some of her hair to the side so it wouldn't cover her face. Then he got a little closer, and Betty pulled him in for another kiss.

"Hey," Archie muttered when they pulled away. "Are you okay?"

"I'm happy," she responded.

"Me too," he added. Then, he kissed her one more time.

And they meant it. They were happy. There were still some issues that they had to take care of, regarding their friends. But at that very moment, the only thing they cared about was each other and that night, which truly was a night to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading my one shot, I hope you liked it! It's the first thing I've written that I post on ao3, so I'd really like for you to comment if you liked it and why, or -if you have any- constructive criticism, it's all welcome!
> 
> Anyway, thanks again!


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